NEISD grills city on mayor's Pre-K plan

Trustees for the second-largest school district in San Antonio questioned city officials for close to an hour Monday night about Mayor Julián Castro's pre-K proposal — raising fears that in an era of increased competition for students and funding, the program would strip North East ISD of its earliest learners and the state money that comes with them.

“We have been cut at every turn,” Letti Bresnahan, the school board vice president, told City Manager Sheryl Sculley after she briefed the board about Pre-K 4 SA, a Nov. 6 ballot initiative to expand access to pre-K citywide.

Some NEISD trustees said the district would lose money it gets from the state to provide half-day pre-K classes because parents would be more attracted to the city's promise of high-quality, full-day pre-K.

In two years, the 68,000-student school district has seen $70 million slashed from its state funding by the Legislature and is preparing, with other districts, for what could be another round of cuts from the state and federal governments.

Coupled with the financial pressure, Bresnahan said, school districts are competing for students with charter schools and watching as conservative lawmakers push voucher programs.

“My reticence has to do with money and our responsibility as a school district and, again, direct competition because we look at teacher salaries” and the district would be unable to match the starting salaries for “master teachers” in the mayor's pre-K proposal.

Using a 1/8th-cent sales tax increase to generate about $31 million a year, Castro's plan aims to bring pre-K to thousands of San Antonio 4-year-olds by offering classes at city centers, improving those of local providers through competitive grants and by training teachers and principals.

Starting salaries for master teachers at the city centers would be $60,000 — which is $13,000 more than what NEISD currently pays, on average, Bresnahan pointed out.

“The intent of the program is not to compete and perhaps it is an unintended consequence,” Sculley said, adding later that city officials know NEISD has a great pre-K program but that parents seeking full-day pre-K should be given the choice.

Sculley also was quick to point out benefits for the school district: children attending the centers would free up space in NEISD programs; district teachers could receive professional development there at no cost and students would return to the district ready for kindergarten.

It was the first in a series of meetings Sculley plans with school boards.

City staff plan to meet with officials at all the school districts in San Antonio to answer questions and work out a memorandum of understanding they would sign if the initiative passes.

The meeting never veered from polite but may have yielded more questions than answers as trustees delved into a laundry list of concerns from their constituents: what about transportation? Or special needs students? Is the plan viable if school districts refuse to participate? What about school districts straddling the city limit lines?

Most of the questions “are not specific to North East,” Superintendent Brian Gottardy said. “I think some of those questions and concerns are felt throughout the city of San Antonio.”

Not all school districts have been critical of the plan and those with a higher percentage of low-income preschoolers, like the San Antonio Independent School District, have expressed support.

“What we're trying to articulate to the districts is that this is not us doing something by ourselves,” Assistant City Manager Peter Zanoni said. “It's a partnership. We're not taking anything from them.”

In response to questions, city officials Monday night said the plan was cost neutral to school districts. The city would pay for substitute teachers needed while others trained, they said, and could negotiate reimbursement of administrative costs associated with keeping tabs of students at the centers.

Zanoni said after the meeting that nearly 25 percent of the program's sales tax revenue would go to school districts and local pre-K providers who obtained grants — which he said they could use in combination with state pre-K dollars to extend pre-K or increase its quality.

NEISD board president Susan Galindo said she still has reservations, including a transportation provision in the memorandum.

“It says that we're going to work it out with school districts ... but it doesn't spell it out,” she said. “What if we don't have the human resources? We had a shortage” of bus drivers this year.